Clause 4 - Health Professions Wales
Health (Wales) Bill
9:30 am
Mr Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley, Conservative)
I am grateful for the Minister's comments and I am reassured. He will understand why we tabled the amendments. We did not want to prevent any health professionals in England from being able to cross over easily if they worked for a time in the health service in Wales, or if they lived on the border but worked in hospitals in Chester or Bristol and in Newport, Cardiff or elsewhere in Wales.
I accept the Minister's response to the amendment relating to the Welsh language and culture. We must recognise that, in parts of Wales, there are people who cannot speak English or Welsh and whose culture is completely different. We wish to be able to treat them for whatever ailments they have in the best possible way. That is a bolt-on provision, but an important one that needs to be considered.
I accept that, in various parts of Wales, there are still monoglot Welsh people. Welsh is their first language and they do not communicate in their daily lives in anything other than Welsh. In certain cases, if we gave them the gold standard of service described by the hon. Member for Caernarfon, it would be important that that could be done in Welsh, particularly if treating the patient's ailment specifically involved regular communication. If an injection were given, it would be important that
someone was available to communicate to the person what was happening. In that instance, it might not have to be the health professional who spoke Welsh, particularly if there was a shortage of those health professionals in that part of the country. I hope that the hon. Gentleman is reassured by my comments.
Given the Minister's comments, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Clause 4 ordered to stand part of the Bill.